The Seeds of Change
by Moonlight97
Summary: This is a story of a young shroomish and his friends in the middle of a forest. Eager to see the face of a childhood legend, Shroomish practiced his attacks all year for a chance to enter the dark cave where a terrifying dragon is said to sleep. Will Shroomish and friends have the chance to meet the dragon themselves? Will they even make it out alive? Start of 2018 Writing Prompt.


**The Seeds of Change**

The forest was in full bloom, nector and petals traced on the waves. In full spirit, a group of free flying beautifly sang and danced in the spring breeze. But to young Shroomish, this was a big day, a day he's been training for all year. The time has come.

Shroomish darted in the lush berry bushes. Skitty, Linoone, and Swellow were supposed to be here ages ago! Are they huddled in fear again? Not this time, Shroomish thought as he kept up the pace through the forest. They already agreed to his plan, it was too late to back out. "Skitty, Linoone!" He cried, skidding to a sudden stop, he was running so fast he almost tripped into them.

Skitty jolted upright from where she was curled up in a tight ball. She stared at him with an offended glare. "What's up with you, Shroomish?"

Linoone moved to speak next, but Shroomish cut him off. "Don't you know what day it is today?" He asked and answered without waiting for a response. "It's the first day of lovely spring weather here in the forest! You guys made me a promise."

The two, like this was the first time they heard the news, exchanged glances. Linoone popped the rest of his pecha berry in his mouth. "Yeah," He said uncertainly. "I know, we're..." He looked around in the bright blue sky past the sparkling leaves in the trees. "We're waiting on Swellow, he isn't here just yet."

Swellow was the eldest of the group, if anyone had the best ability to fight in Shroomish's plan, he did. These four pokemon had been friends since they were very little, and remained close even into their older adolescence. Shroomish growled, a pitiful sound coming from such a little pokemon really. "Don't tell me you forgot! I've been training for this for such a long time, check out my tackle!" Then he charged straight ahead.

He was coming right for Skitty, she yowled, jumping out of the way and letting him charge into the tree behind her. Oran berries and wurmples fell loose. "Watch it!" They screamed at the dazed pokemon before inching back up the bark. Shroomish shook free of his spinning vision.

"Impressive," Skitty mewed with annoyance. "But don't take your anger out on us, we've been praticing too. I'm not one to back down on a deal, even if I still think it's a bad idea."

"Ok," Shroomish mumbled.

"Right on time," Linoone chirped up at the shadow blocking their sunlight. "Any later and we would have gotten ourselves into trouble."

Swellow landed cooly in the center of the flowerbed. "What did I miss? I'm not late, am I?"

Shroomish barked up at him. "Where were you? I though I said to meet us here right before noon. It's afternoon now, and I don't want to save this for tomarrow!"

"Why so anxious?" Linoone asked, picking up one of the oran berries on the grass. "The dragon's still gonna be in that cave if we do this today or not."

"W-well, um..." Shroomish stumbled, looking for a good excuse. "This was the deadline we set up, why shouldn't we do this today?"

The tip of Swellow's wing reached up to scratch the side of his face. "I don't know, today's perfect for a fly."

"Ya know," Shroomish interrupted, turning to march away towards the eastern bushes. "I'm beginning to question your loyalties."

"Where have I heard that before?" Linoone asked, falling in place beside him.

Skitty perked up. "Come on, you know you'll never leave us behind. We've done so much together."

With a wooshing gust, Swellow took flight. "I'll meet you there at the site!"

* * *

The cave wasn't too far away, and true to his word, Swellow was already there, waiting for the others to arrive. The mouth of the tunnel was large and menicing, its presence alone took all the warm, fluffyness away from the edge of the forest around it. The pokemon stared into the deep darkness, terror slowly building up in them.

Shroomish gulped. No one ever came this close to the cave entrance before. Even when he was a baby, his parents told him to never go near this place, or he'll be eaten by a hungry dragon. No one's ever seen him before, only legends existed of it. The dragon never left the safety of his home either, but cries have shook the forest many times, frightening the forest life.

Ever since then, Shroomish vowed he would one day fight the dragon, despite his parents telling him not to. Think of the fame! The treasure! He and his friends would be called heroes for scaring off the dragon of legend. But now that he was this close to it, he was already shivering with fear.

"Uh," Skitty piped up, obviously she was feeling the same he was. "Do we have to do this? We could just leave him alone, he's never bothered anybody."

"Don't tell me you're scared, Skitty." Shroomish tried to steady the tremble in his voice. "We can do this, we've been working towards this all year."

"You first," Linoone whispered, edging closer behind him. This was Shroomish's mission, so naturally, the others pushed him ahead, insisting him to be the first one to see the fiend who dwelled here.

The cave interior was very musky, and the still air was damp and warm. Shroomish slid forward on his short, stumpy feet, the further in he walked, the slower he kept his pace. Shortly later, the others behind him had to push him forward again, and they jumped when he let out a yelp of surprise.

 _This was ok._ He told himself, trying to convince himself of that false comfort. _Maybe there's not a dragon here after all. There's nothing to be afraid of._ Just as he was about to say the words aloud, he stopped. There was snoring ahead of them.

The party of four froze, if the dragon woke now, they have quite a bit of tunnel behind them to cross before they were in the safe forest again, but they were too scared to press onward. "So there is a dragon?" Linoone whispered. "I don't see one though."

He barely finished his speech before all the others shushed him. The voices of the pokemon bounced off the walls and traveled further than they wished. The dragon groaned and Shroomish thought there was something ahead that moved.

One minute later...Two...Still nothing followed. The snoring continued. The four breathed a sigh of relief. "This is close enough for one day, right?" Swellow asked. "We entered the cave, we heard the dragon. I'm afraid we'll wake it up if we come any closer."

"No," Shroomish insisted. "I have to see him." Then he crepted closer.

The three, all still tight together, followed Shroomish slowly. A large blue leg covered in scales was seen then. This was a gigantic dragon! One bite could swallow all four of them, no doubt. The dragon was sleeping on his side away from the group of friends, Shroomish came close enough to the foot he could have rubbed up against it. Shroomish sighed, "What kind of dragon is this anyway?"

"Watch out!" Swellow cried out then, placing a big wing in front of Skitty. She was so busy watching the dragon she didn't see the decline of the rocks just before her feet.

"Oops!" She responded as she came to a quick stop. A tiny pebble was pushed over, and it bounced on the sharp corners and walls all the way down in the abyss.

The dragon groaned again. "Uh," Shroomish whispered. "Stay quiet, guys, maybe it won't see us."

Giant red wings flexed and pulled up to the ceiling, and the legs pulled in under the body. Then a long blue and red snout turned around behind his back. The four were already seen. "He's awake all right!" Skitty screamed, her tail lashed up in alarm.

Swellow called at the group. "Let's get out of here, hurry!" He was the first one to turn around and flee, spreading his wings and soaring down the tunnel. Skitty followed him, not even looking back to see if the others were behind her.

That left only Linoone and Shroomish, and they stared up at the dragon with eyes that have never been so wide. Shroomish tiptoed back, the dragon he's always longed to see was finally before him now. The great and rare Salamence. It was everything he imagined it to be, strong and fierce, watching the friends with intelligent eyes, that experienced glare threatened to eat him whole. Those teeth were sharp and exposed, Salamence growled. This was it, Shroomish prepared himself for this battle, but now that he was here, his little legs were frozen stiff. He'll never see the forest after this, his mistake of seeing the dragon was going to cost him his life.

Nothing moved for the longest time as eyes were locked until finally Linoone dashed ahead. "This is for my friends!" His voiced bounced all over the walls and the quick pelted pokemon ran up past the neck and onto the back. His face reached in, going for a bite, but Salamence, with one giant claw, reached up and snatched him down. Linoone bounced on the rock and landed further off, defeated with one swipe.

Shroomish was next, the dragon stepped closer. Still those legs were too frightened to move. "Well," Salamence spoke, his voice loud, raspy, and aged. "Are you going to attack, or no?"

It was all or nothing, Shroomish charged with a lowered head. He charged, preparing his amazing tackle! His small mushroom body flew and crashed into the dragon's thigh. But Salamence didn't flinch and Shroomish rolled away.

Now lying on the ground, the already dark cave grew darker around him. "No, please!" He whimpered under the dragon's shadow. "I didn't mean this, I'm sorry." Regret settled in him and he wished he would have listened more to the stories, his parents, and his wise friends. Shroomish shut his eyes tight. "Fine, just do it. Make it quick!"

But nothing happened.

Finally, an odd sound was coming from Salamence. Shroomish dared to open his eyes and look. The dragon was laughing. Those shiny teeth that could bring terror and harm was wide open in loud belly laughter, those claws that could squeeze the life out of little pokemon softly held his bouncing chest. Salamence took a breath to find his voice. "What do you expect me to do to you, really?" The innocent cackling continued.

Curious, and growing ever confused, Shroomish stood up. "Aren't you going to eat me?" He whispered.

A large eye regarded him. "Now why would I do that? Do I look like some angry, mean monster, Little Shroomish?"

Shroomish gave a slight shake of his head. This was odd indeed, and all wrong. Stories spoke of a deadly dragon, devouring any and all who entered his cave. And here Shroomish was, in the same cave speaking with the same dragon, scary as he may be, he regarded Shroomish's question with awe. It was like Salamence was more confused than he was.

"I don't have very many visitors, why did you come here?" Salamence asked, tilting that long face to the side.

Shroomish processed the question slowly. "To be honest, I guess I don't know."

Linoone sat up suddenly, bruised and sore, but awake. He cried out. "Shroomish, look out!"

"Linoone?" Shroomish returned. "I'm glad you're awake. I don't think Salamence wants to eat us."

"What?" He asked, creeping closer. "But the dragon I heard who was living here is terrible, ugly, and violent."

Shroomish winced. So far, Salamence wasn't mad with them, he didn't want that to change anytime soon. But Salamence didn't change, he just watched Linoone as he came up and sat by his friend. Linoone turned his head to match Salamence's stare. "But you're none of these things, are you?"

"You've heard these things about me?" A sharp claw scratched his chin. "No wonder I haven't had much friendly company."

Shroomish and Linoone shared a glance. Shroomish chirped up. "Maybe pokemon are just scared, one encounter can create a rumor that spreads through the forest."

"Could be." Salamence agreed. "I'm also very old and powerful, I've been all over the region. I guess that's another reason to be scared."

"So what are you doing here?" Linoone asked.

"I'm tired of travelling." He answered without much of a thought. "There's nothing more to do. I've flown over the tallest mountains, crossed over biomes and regions across the ocean. I've done everything there is to do. I don't have much of a goal anymore. I just wanted to rest."

"I understand, sometimes I feel that way about the forest." Shroomish replied.

The three sat, space growing between them. "So what do we do now?" Linoone asked. "None of this happened like we thought it would, what's the plan?"

"Well," Shroomish pondered. "I don't know, but the forest is scared of something they don't need to be. I think we need to tell them the truth. Salamence," He waited for the dragon to turn to him. "Would you like a proper introduction to the forest? It's nice and warm outside."

Salamence nodded, pleased by the offer.

* * *

The legend was debunked with a half-truth. The forest took some time to warm up to such a large and powerful dragon, but Salamence made some friends. The best friends he had though was in the forms of Shroomish, Linoone, Skitty, and Swellow. They laughed and ate together, and Salamence even battled with them a few times. He was still just as tough, and they never won any, even as four-against-one, but they still had fun. Salamence haven't had any true friends in a long time, and he grew to fall in love with the forest even more.

Until one day changed the world.

It was now mid autumn, and a human crossed into the very forest where Shroomish lived. Twigs snapped and leaves crunched under a pair of pink tennis shoes, and the trainer stood quiet, listening to the sounds around her.

Something stirred in the brush, and her attention locked on with the reflexes of a pikachu. She threw something, a small red and white ball. Right before it landed on the ground it opened and flew away. A form took place in the field and revealed a healthy and determined Wailmer. Inside the tall grass, a Skitty was minding her own business, playing with a rolling pinecone.

Yes, wouldn't you know it, Shroomish's friend Skitty was caught in one of these devices. She didn't even stand a chance. Her battles and training with her buddy, Salamence made her stronger, but with each pokemon she defeated, the trainer had two more ready. Inside her new space within the trainer's pocket, she wondered what might happen to her future. She had too many good times in her home, too many dear friends. What's going on to her now? How will she go on without what she knows in the forest? Turns out, the human was there to catch many different pokemon, she even caught Linoone afterwards, so where was Shroomish, Swellow, or Salamence.

It was a lovely morning not any different from the ordinary. Salamence, while the pokemon accepted the forest as his new home, still slept in the cave. It was a perfect place to sleep, and Shroomish was on the way there to wake him up to play.

Shroomish darted through the woods, full of high spirit. "Guys, I'm gonna see if we can hitch a ride to the sky with Salamence today, who's with me?"

Nobody answered. As a matter of fact, it was too quiet in general. The silkcoons and caskcoons were not here, neither was the group of poochyena, the newcomers to the area. Shroomish turned his head to the side. "Guys?" He asked.

Suddenly, a large shadow descending in the field. It was Swellow. "Shroomish, Bro!" He cried in alarm. "Why are you out here in the open? Don't you know of the intruder?"

"Intruder?" Shroomish asked.

But it was too late, the trainer targeted the fleeing Swellow until she saw him land her. The click of an open pokeball followed. Swellow cursed his luck but stayed beside Shroomish. "Don't worry, Buddy! We can take care of this!"

The most frightening double battle in Shroomish's life took place. Now, he couldn't lose, because everything will be taken away from him if he did. Out of the trees came a Combustion and a Sealeo. Followed behind them was the intruder Swellow spoke of. She was staring at them with awe and determination, and from her lips came an order. "Set and ready to go?" Sealeo asked his teammate, Combustion was jumping with fast paced energy.

Swellow and Shroomish had the best of teamwork, in all of her journey, the trainer's never seen anything like it. She knew they were both special. They gave her the best of a challenge, especially considering some of her other pokemon were bruised from bringing her this far.

But there were still so many. "Swellow, no!" Shroomish cried as he missed the ball sailing right for him. Like a vacuum, he was sucked in. Rage burned in his mind. "I don't know what you think you're doing, but you'll never get away with this alive."

Sealeo laughed and Combustion nodded. "Fire beats grass." And he leaped, flames spinning around his figure. All went black.

Salamence woke up on his own, and he went out looking for the others. But of course he couldn't find them. Why did this happen? The world was just beginning to make sense again, his life was filled with purpose. Why did it have to be ripped away from him again? No, he decided, it wasn't going to end like this.

He interrogated the pokemon in the woods, it didn't take him long to find out what happened, and he took flight. He was going to find this trainer, if it was the last thing he'll do. A roar echoed past the trees, and he sped forward with all haste.

* * *

"What?" The trainer whispered, standing just outside of the nearest pokemon clinic. The Salamence surprised everyone, and the city became an uproar. A lot of people ran and screamed, but many more released pokemon and threatened the concerned dragon.

It was too much, even for the great Salamence. He didn't want to fight the entire city, so he retreated, but not for long.

He waited for her to leave town, then he followed her. But he never attacked. One night, she was setting up camp. "Why are you following me?" She asked the looming form over the rocks.

He snorted, he didn't have to answer her, but it wouldn't matter if he did. She wouldn't understand him.

She giggled. "You came a long way just to snort hatefully at me. Did I do something to upset you, Mister Salamence?" She flicked golden hair back and bent down where she filled a few bowls up with food and water. "If you're not here to fight me, then will you join me for a while? I have some extra if you're hungry."

He snorted again, rejecting the offer. But then something changed his mind. She released her pokemon. All of her party was there, including his four friends. "Salamence!" Shroomish cried. "I thought I wouldn't see you again! How are you?"

Salamence made up his mind, and with a gust to billow roofs off of houses, he flew up and swooped down in front of the pokemon.

After that night, he didn't let her leave without him. The friends of five were back together again. They were far from the forest, but never far from home. Shroomish, Skitty, Swellow, and Linoone loved the outside world, made new friends in the form of the trainer and her pokemon, and Salamence was able to join the outside world with an even newer purpose; to become the very best there ever was.

 **Author's Note: It's 2018! Do you know what that means? Writing Prompt week! I know it's a little late, but you'll have to excuse me this time. I still don't have internet at my place. (Though I expect to in the next month or so.) Because of this, not only am I doing a solo challenge this year, but I'm posting the stories after my deadline. You'll just have to trust that I completed all these in the first week of January, they're just being posted late. ;) Thank you for reading, and I have two more for you.**

 **This prompt was on pinterest. The dragon was everything you feared it was... but didn't behave like you thought it would.**

 **P.S. I already stated this is a solo act this year, however, my sister wanted to write a fanfic using a prompt herself. She doesn't write as much as I do, and she's not really competing, but it is pretty interesting. I wish I could give her a shout-out, but the story isn't posted yet and she'll have to make a brand new account. I will do a shout-out on my bio when it's up if you're interested. It'll be a fanfic on Percy Jackson of the Olympians.**

 **When preparing a garden for spring, you find a blueprint to your house. When examined, you realize there's a room there that doesn't exist in the house. Both disturbed and intrigued, you begin searching for it.**


End file.
